Welcome to Sur La Place. To understand the history of Sur La Place, one must first turn to the history of Mannequin Pis.
The restaurant Mannequin Pis was opened on April 1st 1999 in Olney, Maryland. The former chef and owner Bernard Dehaene sold the restaurant to Loren and Peter Gomes in November 2005.

Mannequin Pis is named after a statue of a boy located at the Grand Plaza of Brussels, Belgium. The literal meaning of Mannequin Pis is “Pissing Boy”. The story behind this boy goes as follows: In the mid 15th century when this boy was 3 years old he was lost for 3 days. On the third day when he was found by his father he was relieving himself at that exact moment. The father was so thrilled to have found his son that he created a life sized statue of him in that exact spot and in the exact position as when he found him. A replica of this statue can be found in the restaurant Mannequin Pis as well as its sister restaurant, Sur La Place.

Chef Bernard trained two very creative Chefs, Jesus and Samuel Encarnacion (Two brothers) to continue his legacy of authentic Belgian food to be served at Mannequin Pis as he partook other ventures. The new owners, Loren and Peter, traveled to Brussels in 2007 in homage to Mannequin Pis. They were highly inspired by the food preparation and presentation of Belgian Cuisine by the authentic Belgian Restaurants of Grand Plaza. Out of that inspiration, they wanted to open another Belgian restaurant in the D.C area that would resemble and carry that same authenticity. Sur La Place means “On The Square” which is also the name of a song by the greatest Belgian singer and song writer, Jacques Brel. In this song, we creatively refer Sur La Place to Grand Plaza of Brussels. We have a picture of the square on the wall of our restaurant.

Sur La Place was opened in November of 2009, under the guidance of Loren and Peter and with chef Samuel Encarnacion, on the same day of the year that Mannequin Pis was opened. We are Proud to be Located in the Beautiful Palisades area of Northwest Washington, D.C.

We take great care in serving fine Belgian Food & Drink in a warm, inviting atmosphere. We are happy to have you as guests and hope you enjoy your stay.